Sotomayor speeds toward confirmation
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In four days of testimony — she gave a brief opening statement on Monday — Sotomayor presented herself as a staunch and impartial defender of the law. She rarely strayed from a script replete with pledges to put her feelings and prejudices aside when she rules.
"I regret that I have offended some people," Sotomayor said Thursday, confronted by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about comments he said "bug the hell out of me."
Sotomayor appeared to have reassured at least some Republicans. Graham described her judicial record as "generally in the mainstream" and said he thought she would keep an open mind on gun rights. Graham, who has said previously he might vote to confirm Sotomayor, said she was "not an activist."
Another Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, also called Sotomayor's rulings "pretty much in the mainstream," although he said her assertions of impartiality at the hearings were strikingly at odds with her past remarks.
NRA says it opposes her
Nearby in the Capitol, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., announced he would oppose Sotomayor, saying she was "unsuitable" for the court.
The National Rifle Association announced it would oppose Sotomayor, saying she held a "hostile view" of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, although a spokesman declined to say whether the group would include her confirmation vote in its ratings of lawmakers. The NRA's closely watched "scores" weigh heavily on lawmakers in both parties, since they're a powerful motivator for politically active gun rights supporters.
Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he expected Sotomayor would win some Republican votes.
Indeed, a number of current GOP senators voted for her when she was confirmed to New York's 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in 1998. Among them are Robert Bennett of Utah, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Cameras in court?
Prodded by Specter to weigh in on televising Supreme Court proceedings — a cause he has long championed — Sotomayor suggested she might be an ally on the issue.
"My experience has generally been positive," she said, noting that cameras had been allowed in her courtroom as part of a pilot program.
Asked if she would encourage the other justices to allow cameras into the high court, she said, "I would certainly relay my experiences."
Justice David Souter has long opposed televising the court's sessions, but his retirement opened the way for her appointment, and possibly a change in the no-camera rule.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., pried from Sotomayor one of the only direct, one-word answers she gave all week, when he asked if she thought the court's combined rulings on abortion had ended a national controversy that has persisted since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
"No," Sotomayor said after a brief pause.
Democrats devoted some of their question time to allowing Sotomayor to make her closing arguments to the panel that will cast the first votes on her confirmation.
Asked by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., what historians would make of her, Sotomayor said, "I can't live my life to write history's story." Then she added, "I hope it will say I'm a fair judge, I was a caring person and that I lived my life serving my country."
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